Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

The SANG is part of the Iziko network of museums managed by the Department of Arts and Culture. It houses outstanding collections of British, Dutch, Flemish, and French works from the modern era including lithographs, etchings, and some late modern British paintings. The museum also displays selected contemporary artworks from South African artists including Irma Stern, Marlene Dumas, Jane Alexander, William Kentridge, Penny Siopis, Willem Boshoff, and Moses Kottler. Selections from the permanent collection change regularly to enable the museum to have a full programme of temporary exhibitions of paintings, works on paper, photography, sculpture, beadwork, textiles, and architecture. There is so much to see that it’s wise to head out with a plan. For instance you can focus on the permanent exhibition or explore two or three different collections.

Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

The Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) houses one of the largest art collections of the continent. The first collection was established in 1910 by Florence Phillips, wife of the mining magnate Lionel Phillips, and boasts over 9,000 works of art by European modern artists as well as South African contemporary artists. The collection is so large that only a portion of artworks are ever on display at any one time, the rest are kept in storage. On the walls you can view masterpieces by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Gerard Sekoto, JH Pierneef, Walter Battiss, and Salvador Dali and the collection also includes remarkable sculptures by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Sydney Kumalo, and William Kentridge. Much of the gallery space is also devoted to temporary exhibitions that feature the works of some of Africa’s best contemporary artists.

Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa

The Pretoria Art Museum focuses on establishing a representative collection of local art as the SANG and the JAG already have good collections of modern European art. Its permanent collection represents a comprehensive historical record of South African art with works by renowned local artists such as Pieter Wenning, Henk Pierneef, Frans Oerder, Anton van Wouw, Irma Stern, and Gerard Sekoto. The permanent collection also contains works from the Lady Michaelis Collection which consisted mainly of 17th-century Dutch paintings and pieces by artists such as Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Kathe Kollwitz. The museum’s focal point is urban and rural art that includes paintings, sculpture, graphics, tapestries, photographic prints, and ceramics. You can visit different rooms that host concurrent exhibitions from the permanent collection, as well as regular temporary exhibitions by local and international artists.

National Art Gallery of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia

The National Art Gallery of Namibia (NAGN) possesses a relatively small collection of contemporary artworks including paintings, drawings, sculptures, mixed media works, and crafts by Namibian artists, as well as a substantial number of original linocuts by the internationally acclaimed artist John Muafangejo. The gallery focuses on providing a platform for local artists, but with a touch of inspiration from African and European art. Since the NAGN currently lacks the space to display the whole collection, the managers choose to rotate the works in a string of temporary exhibitions, sometimes alongside art by other regional and international artists. The gallery initiates the Mobile Exhibition project which aims to serve small town schools, institutions, and residents in rural Namibia. The museum also provides the central exhibition space to display the winning entries of the Bank Windhoek Triennial.

National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) is a museum dedicated to the conservation and presentation of Zimbabwe’s contemporary art and visual heritage. Since its inception, the museum witnessed the shift from colonialism to independence, and has participated to the promotion of national artists in the international art market. About 6,000 pieces are housed in the NGZ, a large collection of art and culture in various art forms including paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographic prints, ceramics, and installations. The collection is spanned through different regional branches of the museum. The museum runs an annual exhibitions programme showing a selection of work from the main gallery, while offering local artists the opportunity to show their work in each regional gallery. The NGZ also holds educational workshops, films, and lectures as a way of promoting and popularizing visual arts.